Salman Khan
Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan (pronounced [səlˈmɑːn xɑːn]; born 27 December 1965)[3] is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who works predominantly in Hindi films. In a career spanning over three decades, Khan has received numerous awards, including two National Film Awards as a film producer, and a Filmfare Award as an actor.[4] He is cited in the media as one of the most commercially successful actors of Indian cinema.[5][6] Forbes has included Khan in listings of the highest-paid celebrities in the world, in 2015 and 2018, with him being the highest-ranked Indian in the latter year.[7][8][9][10] Khan has starred in the annual highest-grossing Hindi film of 10 individual years, the highest for any actor.[11]
This article is about the Indian actor. For other people with the same name, see Salman Khan (disambiguation).
Salman Khan
- Actor
- film producer
- television presenter
1988–present
- Salim Khan (father)
- Helen (step-mother)
- Sohail Khan (brother)
- Arbaaz Khan (brother)
- Alvira Khan Agnihotri (sister)
Khan began his acting career with a supporting role in Biwi Ho To Aisi (1988), followed by his breakthrough with a leading role in Sooraj Barjatya's romance Maine Pyar Kiya (1989). He established himself in the 1990s, with several commercially successful films, including Barjatya's family dramas Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994) and Hum Saath-Saath Hain (1999), the action film Karan Arjun (1995) and the comedy Biwi No.1 (1999). After a period of fluctuations in the 2000s, Khan achieved greater stardom in the 2010s by starring in the top-grossing action films Dabangg (2010), Ready (2011), Bodyguard (2011), Ek Tha Tiger (2012), Dabangg 2 (2012), Kick (2014), and Tiger Zinda Hai (2017), and dramas such as Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015) and Sultan (2016). This was followed by a series of poorly-received films, with the exception of the sequel Tiger 3 (2023).
In addition to his acting career, Khan is a television presenter and promotes humanitarian causes through his charity, Being Human Foundation.[12] He has been hosting the reality show Bigg Boss since 2010.[13] Khan's off-screen life is marred by controversy and legal troubles. In 2015, he was convicted of culpable homicide for a negligent driving case in which he ran over five people with his car, killing one, but his conviction was set aside on appeal.[14][15][16][17] On 5 April 2018, Khan was convicted in a blackbuck poaching case and sentenced to five years imprisonment.[18][19] He is currently out on bail while an appeal is being heard.[20]
Personal life
Khan resides in Galaxy Apartments, Bandra, Mumbai. He also has a 150-acre plot in Panvel which has 3 bungalows, a swimming pool and a gym.[183] He is a fitness enthusiast and maintains a strict regimen.[183][184]
Khan has never married. In 1999, he began dating Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai; their relationship was often reported in the media until the couple separated in 2001. Khan started dating actress Katrina Kaif. After years of speculations, Kaif admitted in an interview in 2011 that she had been in a serious relationship with Khan for several years, but it ended in 2010.[185] Sangeeta Bijlani and Somy Ali were also in serious relationships with Khan.[186]
Since 2012, Khan is in a relationship with Romanian actress Iulia Vântur.[187]
In August 2011, Khan admitted that he suffers from trigeminal neuralgia, a facial nerve disorder commonly known as the "suicide disease". The disorder occurs due to the inflammation of trigeminal nerve in the face.[188] In an interview, he said that he has been quietly suffering from it for the past seven years, but now the pain has become unbearable. He said that it has even affected his voice, making it much harsher.[189]
Khan identifies as both Muslim and Hindu, commenting that, "I'm Hindu and Muslim both. I'm Bharatiya (an Indian)".[22] He explained, "My father is Muslim and my mother is Hindu".[190]
Controversies
Hit-and-run case
On 28 September 2002, Khan was arrested for rash and negligent driving after his car ran into a bakery in Mumbai; one person who was sleeping on the pavement outside the bakery died and three others were injured in the accident.[207] Charges of culpable homicide were laid against him, but later dropped.[208] On 24 July 2013, he was formally charged with culpable homicide in the case, to which he pleaded not guilty.[209]
On 6 May 2015, Khan was found guilty of all charges in the case. The Bombay Sessions Court concluded that Khan was driving the car under the influence of alcohol, causing the death of one and serious injury to four homeless persons. An RTO officer confirmed that Khan did not have a driving licence until 2004.[210] Sessions Judge DW Deshpande convicted the actor for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and sentenced him to five years in prison.[211] Later in the same day, Khan, being represented by Senior Counsel Amit Desai was granted bail by the Bombay High Court till 8 May 2015,[212][213][214] on which the court suspended his prison sentence until the final appeal hearing in July.[215][216][217][218] His driver Ashok Singh, who had given the testimony that it was himself who was driving the car at the time of accident, was charged with perjury for misguiding the Court with false testimony and was arrested. The prime witness, police constable Ravindra Patil went missing multiple times and eventually died in a hospital due to tuberculosis.[219] In December 2015, Khan was acquitted of all charges from this case due to lack of evidence.[220][221] The Supreme Court on Tuesday 5 July 2016 admitted a plea by the Maharashtra government that challenged the acquittal of Salman Khan in this hit-and-run case by the Bombay High Court. The court refused to fast-track the case.[222]
Relationship with Aishwarya Rai
His relationship with actress Aishwarya Rai was a well publicised topic in the Indian media.[223] After their break-up in March 2002, Rai accused him of harassing her. She claimed that Khan had not been able to come to terms with their break-up and was hounding her; her parents lodged a complaint against him.[224] In 2003, Vivek Oberoi, Rai's then boyfriend, claimed that Khan had threatened him.[225] In 2005, news outlets released what was said to be an illicit copy of a mobile phone call recorded in 2001 by the Mumbai police. It appeared to be a call in which he threatened Rai, in an effort to force her to appear at social events held by Mumbai crime figures. The call featured boasts of connections to organised crime and derogatory comments about other actors. However, the alleged tape was tested in the government's Forensic lab in Chandigarh, which concluded that it was fake.[226][227]
Blackbuck hunting and Arms Act violations cases
The case involves the alleged killing of a deer when Khan and his co-stars – Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Neelam and Tabu – were filming the movie Hum Saath-Saath Hain in the forests near Jodhpur in 1998.[228][229] In 2007, Salman spent a week in Jodhpur jail before the court granted him bail. In addition to the accusations of poaching of endangered antelopes under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, a case under sections 3/25 and 3/27 of the Arms Act was filed against Khan for allegedly keeping and using firearms with an expired licence.[230]
On 17 February 2006, Khan was sentenced to one year in prison for hunting Chinkara, an endangered species. The sentence was stayed by a higher court on appeal.[231]
On 10 April 2006, Khan was handed a five-year jail term and remanded to Jodhpur jail until 13 April when he was granted bail.[232] On 24 July 2012, Rajasthan High Court finalised charges against Khan and his other colleagues in the endangered blackbuck killing case, paving way for the start of the trial.[233] On 9 July 2014, the Supreme Court issued a notice to Khan on Rajasthan government's plea challenging the High Court order suspending his conviction.[234] Khan was acquitted in the blackbuck and chinkara poaching cases by the Rajasthan High Court on 24 July 2016.[235]
On 18 October 2016 the Rajasthan Government decided to approach the Supreme Court to challenge Khan's acquittal in two related cases.[236]
On 18 January 2017 Khan was acquitted by a Jodhpur court in an Arms Act case linked to the killing of a blackbuck in Rajasthan. Khan pleaded "not guilty" to charges of violating the law by keeping unlicensed weapons and using them. Acquitting the actor, the court said that the prosecution failed to submit enough evidence against him.[230][237]
On 5 April 2018, Jodhpur court convicted Khan in the blackbuck poaching case and sentenced him to five years imprisonment while acquitting Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Neelam, and Tabu.[238][18][19]
Khan was released on bail on 7 April 2018, pending appeal.[239][240][241]
On 14 April 2024, two members of the Bishnoi Gang, who belong a religious group that considers the blackbuck sacred, opened fire on Khan's apartment in Bandra, Mumbai before fleeing on a motorcycle. Khan, who was inside along with several relatives, was unharmed. The gunmen were later arrested in Gujarat. The gang had previously threatened Khan over the hunting incident. Police said that the attack was masterminded by Amnol Bishnoi, the younger brother of the gang's leader Lawrence Bishnoi.[242]
Remarks about 26/11 attacks
In September 2010, Khan was reported to have claimed during an interview on a Pakistani channel that the 26/11 attacks got a lot of attention because the "elite" were targeted.[243][244] During the interview the actor had said: "It was the elite that was targeted this time. Five star hotels and stuff. So they panicked. Then they got up and spoke about it. My question is "why not before?" Attacks have happened in trains and small towns too, but no one talked about it so much."[243][244] Khan also said that Pakistan was not to be blamed for it, and that the Indian security had failed. Khan's comments had drawn strong reactions from Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra Chagan Bhujbal, Shiv Sena, BJP and other political parties.[243] The comments were also condemned by Ujwal Nikam, Special Prosecutor in the 26/11 trial.[243] Khan later apologised for his comments.[243]
Tweets on Yakub Memon
On 25 July 2015, Khan made a number of tweets from his Twitter account in support of the 1993 Bombay bombings accused Yakub Memon. Memon was scheduled to be executed, before which Khan made his tweets.[245] Khan said that Yakub's brother, Tiger Memon should be hanged instead. He also asked the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif to confirm "whether the mob boss is in his country."[246] The tweets sparked protests outside his house where police had to be deployed and was criticised in the social media and by his father, Salim Khan. Following these incidents, Khan withdrew his tweets and apologised.[247]
Interference in Jiah Khan suicide case
Following the death of Sushant Singh Rajput by hanging, late actress Jiah Khan's mother Rabia Amin revealed that Salman Khan had attempted to influence the case, where accusations for abetment of suicide were charged against actor Sooraj Pancholi. A CBI officer who was investigating the case had told Rabia Amin that Salman Khan called him everyday, asking him not to harass or touch Sooraj Pancholi, as a lot of money was invested on him.[248]